Hate..

 

Following his much-watched meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit, United States President Donald Trump, for a change, made a coherent statement: “Time to move forward in working constructively with Russia.”

However, allegations of interference in the U.S. presidential elections by Democrats notwithstanding, it is unlikely that Mr. Trump’s suggestion of forging a “constructive” partnership with the Cold War foe would find any takers in the U.S. foreign policy establishment. For, despite it being more than a quarter century since the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union, the U.S. and its allies have rarely shown appetite in building a good relationship with the Russian Federation. 

They have, to the contrary, only fostered a greater sense of insecurity in the minds of Moscow through the expansion of their military power, to the point that there is direct weaponry targeting Russia.

The first is that Putin sees Russia as a victim of aggression rather than perpetrator. The second is that his purportedly benign attempt to forge a sphere of influence in the country’s neighborhood has been seriously threatened by the continued expansion of NATO since the end of the Cold War.

 Russia views this as a threat to its own sovereignty, much like India views China’s construction activities along the border with Bhutan as a threat to its own security.

Putin gives an impression of betrayal and pain when he says Mikhail Gorbachev, though he obtained verbal assurance from the U.S. that NATO would not be expanded to the east of the erstwhile German Democratic Republic, did not insist on a written declaration.